ISRO will also be launching its 100th satellite into the space along with 30 other satellites, including 28 from six other countries from its spaceport at Sriharikota.

Indian Space Research Organisation PSLV C38, carrying earth observation satellite of Cartosat-2 Series and 30 co-passenger satellites of various countries, lifts off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.(PTI FILE)

Starting 9.29 am on Friday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be in for a nail-biting seven minutes and 15 seconds. That is when the space agency will launch the seventh satellite of its Cartosat-2 series from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, in an event closely watched across India and abroad.

ISRO, which suffered an embarrassment on August 31 last year, will try to set the record straight with this satellite. According to a press release, its 41st flight had failed to launch back then due to a glitch in heat-shield separation.

On Friday, ISRO will also be launching its 100th satellite into the space along with 30 other satellites, including 28 from six other countries from its spaceport at Sriharikota, a top space agency official told IANS.

“Of the three Indian spacecraft being launched on January 12 -- the 100kg micro satellite will be the 100th that will be ejected out of the rocket last into the earth’s orbit,” ISRO Satellite Centre director M Annadurai told the news agency.

The other two are the 710 kg Cartosat in 2 series for earth observation and a 5kg nano satellite.

This week has been an eventful one for India’s space agency. Though the satellite was originally supposed to be launched on January 10, the event was postponed by two days.

The government announced K Sivan’s appointment as ISRO chairperson, replacing AS Kiran Kumar, two days before the launch. Kumar’s tenure ends on Friday.

“We are busy with Friday’s launch right now,” Sivan told HT over the telephone soon after his appointment. “This launch is very important to us because it comes after a failure. We are working hard to make this a success.”

The Cartosat-2 remote-sensing satellite is the main payload aboard the PSLV C-40. It will boost data services for urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, monitoring of road networks, water distribution, and land-use mapping. The PSLV will also bear micro and nano-satellites from India, besides co-passenger satellites from Canada, Finland, France, Republic of Korea, UK and the United States. ISRO made almost Rs 300 crore from foreign satellite launches in 2016-17. ISRO officials have maintained over the past year that smaller satellite launches will play a big role in the future.